Help with a hat ID please

[Jabos]

My new hobby makes me look at my family pics in a new light. This is my great-grandfather with my Mother in 1945. It looks like he is wearing a Stetson Stratoliner, but I would like an expert opinion to confirm. Also, what color do you think it is? I don't know all the Stratoliner colors offered (if that is what it is) but would like to know as best we can tell what it might be (silver belly?). I ask because I am considering having a clone made. Unfortunately the hat is long gone. Thanks!

 

[nickn5]

Safe to say it's definitely a Stratoliner (or Open Road) narrow ribbon style - brim looks more like Stratoliner too (not as wide as Open Road). However there were other reputable hat companies that made clones of the Stratoliner style, which this hat could just as easily be.

Slightly puzzling is the fact that the sides are hardly at all turned up, which Strats were supposed to be by virtue of their storage box shape.

Colour - well I have a Stratoliner in a very light tan/beige colour, almost cream, which is a possibility. I guess there is a Silver Belly version too, but don't know.

N.

 

[Dinerman]

Probably not a stratoliner, it looks like it has a wind trolley button, and not enough curl to the brim. Looks like it is probably silverbelly.

 

[Jabos]

Yes, the brim is rather flat. Perhaps it was new and not "broken in"? Also, I can't tell if there is a brim ribbon but it looks like there is not. Is that a clue to Open Road vs. Strat?

 

[Jabos]

Carter-the only hat of my great-grandfather that has survivied is his "working hat". My uncle in Dallas has it. My great-grandfather was a rancher. That hat is a Shudde Bros. I mention this since I have seen you comment on that company.

 

[ET]

Could it be a Stetson Sovereign in Silverbelly- I have one that is very similar to the one pictured...

 

[nickn5]

Also, I can't tell if there is a brim ribbon but it looks like there is not. Is that a clue to Open Road vs. Strat?

No, both Open Road and Strat have a bound brim of the same width binding - the only difference as far as I can tell from my model of each type is that the brim overall width is about 1/2" less on the Strat. Both have a degree of curl as standard to the sides, though it's of course not impossible that your great-grandfather altered this.
My Strat does not have a wind trolley either, but my OR does.

N.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I have an old Open Road with a trolley chord/wind string (I suspect "wind trolley" is a mangled term) too.

Really anyone's guess about the hat pictured. Could be Stetson, Borsalino, Dobbs, Resistol, LaSalle, and on and on. Not sure when all the competing manufacturers had fully jumped on the make-copies-of-the-Open-Road bandwagon but many copies there are.

I bet there is the typical thin edge binding but, quite naturally, it cannot be clearly seen on an old B&W photo of a light colored hat in the sun.

Great looking hat in the photo. Provide this reference to your favorite custom hat maker and they should be able to guide you from there. Understand, however, that shallow, circular side dents and fairly level brims lend themselves best to round shaped heads. If I were to wear the same model hat in my Long Oval blocking, it might yield longer dents and more swoop to the brim.

 

[tonyb]

Next to impossible to say, Jabos. Like Open Roads, Stratoliners varied quite a bit. I've seen and had Strats (still got a couple of 'em) in various colors and brim widths and crown heights and bow styles. Some had liners and some didn't. Some had reeded sweatbands and some had the unreeded type. (In my experience, the unreeded sweatbands were on the unlined hats, and the reeded sweatband versions were lined.) Some had wind strings and some (most) didn't.

That Western-flavored fedora (4-ligne [or so] ribbon, widish brim, tallish crown, etc.) has been a popular style for a long, long time. Genuine Stetson Stratoliners have a certain cachet among old-hat aficionados, if for no other reason than that they are genuine Stratoliners. The name is certainly evocative of an era and an "image," but in my view there are many other similarly styled hats from other manufacturers that are every bit the equal, and several that are superior.

 

[Jabos]

Thank you all for the comments. I have found and Photoshopped another pic-a better one.

I am in line with Art and think this will give him enough to make a clone I think that will work, regardless of the brand. Perhaps it is a Shudde Bros-since the only surviving hat of his is of that brand. I appreciate the help! I knew you guys would be able to give me a lot of info.

 

[handlebar bart]

Thank you all for the comments. I have found and Photoshopped another pic-a better one.

I am in line with Art and think this will give him enough to make a clone I think that will work, regardless of the brand. Perhaps it is a Shudde Bros-since the only surviving hat of his is of that brand. I appreciate the help! I knew you guys would be able to give me a lot of info.

It will be neat to see the hat Art makes. Art punches your initials into the sweat band........it might be neat to have your Grandpas initials punched into the clone hat he makes. Just a thought.

 

[gtdean48]

I've seen Shudde Bros that are just like an OR. Carter may have got one, I think. This last shot looks like a Stratoliner or an OR with 2 5/8" brim. I have 2 ORs with 2 5/8" brim, 2 with 2 3/4" brim & 1 with 3" brim. This one doesn't look like 2 3/4" to me.

 

[Jabos]

Thanks GT. I will ask the brim to be a 2 5/8", and ask Art if he agrees from the photos.

Great idea HB-especially since I am named after him (James)!! I will definitely post pics when it comes in. I think I am up for a hat sometime in March. Now I am even more excited than before.

I sent a copy of this pic to my mom and she wrote, "Thanks for the print. I can almost remember the day it was taken. I always got to wear his hat and there is one someplace that has me with his cigar in my mouth. He loved to play with me when Mother and I were living with them [when her Dad was in Europe]. I remember sitting on a foot stool crying and Granddaddy singing 'my old dog sittin' on a log, killin' himself a bawlin'.' The louder I cried, the louder he sang and laughed at me, the louder I cried, and so on."